


Fate/TR (English Ver.)

by Rhodododendron (Hi_ganBanana)



Category: Chinese History RPF, Chinese Mythology, Fate/Grand Order, Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22130188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hi_ganBanana/pseuds/Rhodododendron
Summary: Special thanks to Vanilla Skyce!Inspired by many fate stories, I wanted to write something myself too, hence this spin-off/fanfiction with Chinese Heroic Spirits, many not yet in the Canon storyline (yet?).This is a translated version of my own work written in Chinese. Existing Canon Fate Characters are mostly cameos or references, while some will appear in the later part of the story. (Shall not say to prevent spoilers. :) )Please forgive me for my not so good English!





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Fate/TR 第一卷 长铗归来](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22084408) by [Rhodododendron (Hi_ganBanana)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hi_ganBanana/pseuds/Rhodododendron). 



> Introduction of prologue is inspired by Nasu Kinoko's 'Garden of Avalon'.

“This is the tale of the subjects.  
At the imperial court or among the commoners.  
One whose power stretches beyond the ruler, bringing chaos to the regime.   
One whose loyalty surpasses the meaning of life and death.  
One whose ambitions cannot be tamed by the noblest rewards.  
One whose made use like a tool but never once compromised ones’ own ideology. “

The Mage in the tower watches over the world calmly. He does not have the wish ‘to preserve the future of humanity’, neither does he enjoy the scene of humans suffering from despair.   
He is simply intrigued, how will humans react to the forthcoming unknown disaster, and if they will be able to survive it.

A flower bloomed in his palm, petite and pretty.

“If I were to name this story, ‘The Holy Grail War, in which only I do not exist’ What do you think, Cath Palug? ” 

The beast in white whimpers, as if annoyed.

The Mage has seen a Holy Grail War that should not exist in a particular corner of the world. Because he has seen it, thus he does not intend to act on it, neither does he need to. As a result, he would only soon forget about it, although the story did once exist. 

‘The Holy Grail War’ or so the mages call it.   
A battle royale where seven mages each summons an entity to fight alongside them.  
A total of fourteen participant in this ‘ceremony’, the last pair standing will be the winner and have their wish(es) granted, by the omnipotent wish-granting holy grail.

The pair who destroys the dreams of the other twelve, those who offered the lives of the losers as a sacrifice, will receive an immeasurable amount of magical energy from the grail, which is how the winning mage is able to actualize his unrealistic dreams.

The world set ablaze, the concept of space has lost its meaning completely, a circular void appears in the middle of the now darkened sky.  
Purple flames spread rapidly, peach blossoms dancing in the wind, the previously prosperous city now in utter destruction. Vines crept onto the surface of the crumbled buildings. On top of which, peach flowers bloom beautifully. How very unsettling and disturbing of the beauty, in an apocalyptic world. It seems as if humanity has been obliterated decades ago.

Although, in actual fact, a robust city still existed at this very spot only days before.

How could this happen?   
A half-naked man questions himself. He stands in the middle of it all, in a crater among the rubble, his clothes worn out after a fierce battle. Blood oozing out from wounds all over his body.  
Despite being engulfed by fear and despair, the nobility in him does not allow him to be defeated in the face of adversity.   
Behind him, a body that has been burnt to a crisp.  
‘Master’ was the term the now broken man used to address the burnt body, when it still had life in it.

He has been beaten down, annihilated.   
His body started turning into countless bright particles.  
Without the supply of ‘Magical energy’, the vessel he hosts, the spirit origin has reached its limit.

The decimation of the world was beyond his imagination, he felt the very need to correct this end result of this Holy Grail War.  
It is at this point in time, he has made the decision.

If he had the skill, ‘Clairvoyance’ as the ‘Assassin’ class ‘Servant’, he will probably regret this decision, one that cannot be better described than ‘foolish’.   
But, being the Heroic Spirit who he is, he would have never chosen any other option.  
With the very last of his magical energy, he unleashed his ultimate weapon as a ‘Servant’, the ‘Noble Phantasm’.

What he first thought was useless in securing the Victory of the Holy Grail War is now his last chance to the salvation of the World, and himself.


	2. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story begins........
> 
> (The identity of the Heroic Spirits will not be revealed outside of the story itself, as guessing the True Name will be part of the fun :) ) 
> 
> 明 李时珍 《本草纲目》：“俗名为鬼见愁”。旧俗采之令童子佩戴，或悬于门上，云可以避鬼魅。
> 
> Ming Dynasty-Li Shi Zhen's Medicinal Book: "Compendium of Materia Medica“：(A herb) It's commonly known as "鬼见愁"(Meaning even the ghosts are distressed by it). It's worn by children or hung on the door. It is belived that this can ward off evil spirits.
> 
> (Extracted From Baidu)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Mango_Cheezle for helping with the translation of my work!
> 
> Unfortunately, Mango_Cheezle would not be helping much in the future (Commitments), and this chapter was done pretty much without his help (which is why the fluency will be bad....).

Under the glistening moonlight, gusts of ghastly breeze forms in the forest, those that could send chills to the bones. The environment so dark that one could not even see his own palm.

“Devils’ Frown(鬼见愁), move as planned, Point C.” A deep voice that was so soft that could barely be heard comes from behind a tree. It was a man dressed in camouflaged uniform, armed to the teeth. Evidently, he is the commander of the man he spoke to.

A dark shadow springs into action from behind the tree, moving swiftly and silently, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Upon seeing “Devils’ Frown” reach his designated position, the commanders gives signals to the other troopers, who are all in cover.  
At this instance, an object no larger than an egg lands near “Devils’ Frown”.

“Grenade!” the scream pierces the silence, but before the voice of the soldier could reach the others, dozens of similar objects flies in from all directions. Following which was the deafening explosions from every direction. 

“Ambush! Retreat!” the commander’s voice echoes in the forest as he attempts to provide covering fire. Two other troopers reacted immediately to the commander’s instructions, providing covering fire for the others. One of which throws a smoke grenade in the direction opposite of movement, barely making it in time before the magazines were empty.

“Enemy spotted!”  
“3 O’ Clock”  
“6 O’ Clock”  
“Damn it! We are surrounded.” the commander squats behind “Devils’ Frown”, their backs in contact, behind the same tree. 

“Cover me!” the commander charges towards the enemies’ direction. Before “Devils’ Frown” could open fire, another grenade lands right behind him.   
In the midst of the explosion, “Devils’ Frown” loses consciousness.

“Du Kang(杜康)!”   
“Devils’ Frown” suddenly wakes up, broke out in cold sweat. Upon realizing it was a nightmare, he rubs his face violently, his sleepiness completely disappeared. The clock on the wall indicates that it is 2 O’ Clock in the morning.

He looks at himself in the washroom, his untrimmed stubble now overgrown, bloodshot eyes more disturbing than ever. His chiseled body and scars from potentially fatal scars are evidence of his service in a special part of the armed forces before his early retirement. 

Now, however, he is only a veteran who is suffering from PTSD.

He washes his face under the running tap and put on clothes to go outdoors. He intends to exercise, varying from push-ups to sit-ups and pull-ups. He stops only when his shirt is drenched by his perspiration, proceeding to sprinting around the neighborhood.

This is his routine, it is his way to deal with the recurring nightmares. He uses exercise to tire himself out physically, so that what he saw in the dream would no longer bother him, for a while.

Before he realize, the Sun is already up, and he stops exercising. On his way home, he opens his mailbox on a whim, although he knows that literally nobody would send him a letter or a package for him anymore.

With a loud ear-piercing noise, the mail box is opened, and to his surprise, two items are resting in the corner of the cob-web infested mail box.   
They could hardly be called ‘letter’ as they are merely two pieces of paper. Both pieces paper have been folded in half with nothing written on the inside, one was newer than the other.   
The older piece is dusty and turned yellowish, with “致冯谖”(To Feng Xuan) on the exposed surface.  
The newer piece has a blood-red lip print, with a faint smell of perfume. 

He put both pieces of paper in his pocket without a second thought and returned home, as he is extremely sleepy from the fatigue.

Once again, he returns to the same forest in his dream.

“Devils’ Frown!” the voice of the commander is in close proximity. He turns immediately, wanting to say something, but only to be interrupted by what he saw.   
The commander dressed in blood-stained uniform and blood bleeding from his eyes. Taken aback by the unexpected situation, he was unable to speak.

“Why didn’t you save me!” the commander grabbed him by the throat violently. Before he could react, multiple figures in the same attire appears, each grabbing him by different body parts, chanting his name.

He wakes up again from the nightmare, instinctively looking around the room. He checks the time again, only to realize that it is now 6 O’ Clock in the evening.   
He starts to search around his house, inadvertently saw a framed photo on the desk. It is a group photo, of which all of them have appeared in his dream. He took a closer look of the photo and puts it face-down gently, exposing the words on the back of the photo frame, “鬼见愁”(Devils’ Frown). He then grabs a jacket and left the house in a hurry.

The wind-bell chimes as the door is being pushed open. He enters the bar and sat at the bar’s counter. The bar had little customers, with only him and a pair of young couple at a corner table.

“The usual items.” he told the bartender.

The bartender hands him a plate of fried food and an entire bottle of rum. The couple at the corner table seems to be in some sort of discussion as soon as he started to wolf down his order.

“Is it him who Mr Zhang spoke about?”  
The man questions with obvious doubt in his tone. 

“There’s no way that it is not him. He is the sixth Master. It cannot possibly be wrong.”  
The lady seems bored, as she is meddling with the straw to push the ice cubes around in her drink.

“Although there is no Command Seals on his hand, nor does he look like a Magician,” the lady shrugged her shoulders, “but Mr Zhang was never wrong.”  
She then hints him to make a move. The young man curled his lips and trudged towards the counter unwillingly.

“Mr. Feng Xuan(冯谖).” the young man greets him, “my superior has sent me to meet you. I believe you have already received his letter. My name is Jiang Wang(姜望), you can just call me ‘Jiang’(小姜) . ” Feng Xuan glanced at him, with a poker face. Jiang’s words reminded him of the pieces of paper he had collected in the morning. He took out the pieces of paper, finding nothing new on there, with literally no information.

Feng Xuan frowns as he shows doubt to Jiang, to which Jiang confidently replies:” You have a wish waiting to be fulfilled, to bring your deceased friends back to life.”

His words hit Feng Xuan in the soft spot, causing him to react violently by grabbing Jiang by the collar, lifting him off the ground. At the same instance, the lady stood up, made a hand posture as if she was scooping up water with her bare hands.

A golden lotus springs to existence within her palms, the petals detach from the flower one by one, flew towards towards Feng Xuan, as swift as bullets. The pain caused by the attack caused Feng Xuan to let go of his grip, his own instincts telling him that he is no match for Jiang and the Lady.

“I’m so terribly sorry, I have tried to use minimal power, but that will still cause some burns.” the lady points at Jiang, ”He is my partner, I am Xiao Xue (晓雪). Our superior has sent us to pick you up.”

“Why me?” Feng Xuan kept his guard up.

“The ‘Holy Grail War’.” Jiang puts it simply, “I explain it most simply, the ‘Holy Grail’ can grant any wish, inclusive of resurrecting your late friends. It requires 7 Masters...”

“I’m in.” Feng Xuan replied before Jiang could even finish his sentence. Xiao Xue looks at Jiang with a smug, “Just as Mr Zhang predicted.” Jiang was at a loss of words. “You could’ve waited till I’m done” Feng Xuan, with a serious expression, then gestured Jiang to continue.

“Ahem. There will be 7 participants, known as ‘Master’, each summoning a heroic spirit, known as ‘Servant’. The Servants will materialize in 7 different classes, each with different skills. The 7 pairs then engage in a battle royale, the winner’s wish will be granted by the Holy Grail.”

“The winning criteria?”

“The annihilation of the other 6 pairs of participants.”

“Let’s move now then.” Feng Xuan then moved towards the exit quickly.

“I’ll leave the rest to you. We’ll meet you there.” Xiao Xue moved her lips, gesturing Jiang to deal with the bartender, who was knocked out cold and now lying in a hilarious position. With no other choice, Jiang started to deal with the ‘aftermath’ as they left the scene.

In less than 10 minutes, Xiao Xue brought Feng Xuan into a run-down iron mill, which is no longer in operation. The place is filled with rusty machinery, either gathered in a pile or dumped in corners lazily. The overwhelming smell of rust is an indicator that this place is forgotten by even the owner a long time ago.

“Mr Feng Xuan, Zi Fang(子房) has been longing for your arrival.” a humanly figure walks out from the shadows. He wore a green robe, a sandalwood fan in his hands. His hair is tied into a pony tail and extended to his waist. His face smooth as a piece of jade, his pupils sparkles like glowing stars in a cloudless night.

“Xiao Xue and Jiang has probably already briefed you, Zi Fang shall not reiterate then. Next..” the man fans himself gently as he spoke, but Feng Xuan interrupts once again.

“Say, what do you need in return for helping me?” Feng Xuan asks impatiently.

“A straight talker indeed.” Zi Fang smiled, he was not displeased by even a bit, “Nothing, I am neither a Master nor a Servant, I want to assist you in winning the Holy Grail War due to a personal reason.”

“Here is where I meet my end, today is when I pass on. If you were to ask for the reason, then it is the process of transferring of the entirety of my Magical Circuits and my Magic Crest to you. It is my decision as well as my destiny.” Zi Fang kept his smile as he explains. 

“No! Teacher(师傅), that was not part of the plan!”  
Xiao Xue exclaims before anyone else could say anything.

“Xue (阿雪), please address me as Mr Zhang in front of outsiders, I have only adopted you, you were never my disciple. Like I have said, it is my fate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sincerest thanks to you for reading till here! 
> 
> The biggest challenge for the translation process is to encapsulate the intended meaning in English, which is very difficult as something with cultural meaning or unique ways of expression do not exist the same way in another language. An example would be the name of the Main Character himself.   
> (Not only is it a foreshadow, but also some other meanings, please search his name in Chinese Character online if intereseted :) )
> 
> With that in mind, I decided to include the Chinese word for easy searching purposes. Hope it is a pleasant read :)
> 
> Lastly, would like to wish everyone a happy new year! Stay healthy in this festive season!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank You for reading my work! My most sincere appreciation for you to read till here!
> 
> Currently working tgt with a friend to translate this to English, however it is a painful process as sometimese it is difficult, if not impossible to translate and encapsulate the same meaning entirely.


End file.
